Survey of Salmonella contamination of non-UK produced shell eggs on retail sale in the north west of England and London .

Since 2002, the emergence of egg-associated S. Enteritidis phage types other than PT4 causing human infection has taken place in the United Kingdom, with the greatest increases occurring in S. Enteritidis PT1 and PT14b [4,5]. A survey of Salmonella contamination of non-UK eggs on retail sale over a period of 16 months, between March 2005 and July 2006, showed that 157 (9.0%) samples were contaminated with Salmonella on the shell of the egg. This equates to an estimated prevalence of 3.3%; equivalent to 1 in every 30 ‘boxes' of 6 eggs. Of these 157 samples, S. Enteritidis were detected in 136. The eggs sampled were produced in eight European countries, with most (66.3%) originating from Spain . Of the 157 Salmonella shell-positive samples, 10 were also contents-positive. Commun Dis Rep CDR Wkly 2006; 16(46): news.